It was now morning, and Jason decided to do a bit of body-weight training. Wanting to improve his stamina and overall strength, he ran sprints in the alley, attempted to do his max rep pushups — he got 22, and even held an L sit for two seconds. Although the boy was trying his best, pushing himself to failure, the azure blue-eyed girl beside him only tilted her head and giggled happily.
'Jason is really good at acting weak;' she thought as she watched him clumsily try to balance handstands and fail the most basic core exercises. 'No wonder why he fits into society so well. Maybe if I follow Big Brother's training, I will be loved by the townspeople too!'
Eve backflipped off the wall and started running sprints with Jason, who responded with a simple nod. Though he was burning with curiosity as to why the little girl was running with him, Jason couldn't utter the words as he gasped for air, breath ragged, while his heart pounded faster than it ever had before. His top-end mach-5 speed — self-proclaimed — was painfully slow for Eve, and being the hormone-filled teenager that he was, he couldn't bear to disgrace himself in front of his newfound little sister.
Jason kicked it up a notch, and with the last bit of air in his lungs, ran at mach-6 speed (also self-proclaimed…imagine like a 90 second 400m dash) before passing out. Eve's eyes filled with undue respect for her Big Brother's "acting" as he lay there unmoving.
An hour passed after his Herculean workout, and Jason slowly woke up for the second time that day. He attempted to stand but soon found that his legs were jello and crawled toward the wall, looking for something to hold onto. As he struggled to stand, a second realization hit him as his stomach grumbled louder than the divine thunder. He hadn't eaten in a full day! Apparently, even if his body revived with healthy organs, he still needed to eat, drink, and sleep like a normal human.
"Are you hungry Eve?"
"Mmm no, not really. I don't really eat, but I don't mind going with you if you want."
"Ok, let's go explore the town then. Hop on."
Eve climbed onto Jason's shoulders as if it was second nature, and the two began to walk back to the town. Though Jason was still scared of the cabbage thrower he had died to the day before, he decided to face his fears, knowing that he needed to eat no matter what. As they walked through Butterpond, the ragtag team of two drew attention from both ends of the spectrum.
"Wow, that guy is really really ugly. Maybe he needs to pray to the God of Skin Lotion."
"Holy Andrew, look! That girl is so beautiful. She looks like a goddess."
Like this, the praise and pity parade continued for the hate reader and young vampire as they inched closer to Restaurant Lane. Though Eve didn't require food to survive, as blood would suffice, no one, not even Eve, could resist the luscious perfume emanating from Butterpond's local delicacies. After all, they were the capital's specialty for a reason!
Following Eve's wiggling pointer finger and Jason's carnal hunger, the two sat down at Butterpond's Brewery and ordered a dupig with a side of raskulture berries. The dupig was a roasted pork belly dish with the crispy skin of a duck, while the raskulture berries were small and red with nourishing effects for both the mind and body. Eve drooled as the food was brought to their table, and Jason looked happily at the little girl that had helped him regain his sanity and calm. Fortunately for the two, Jason had picked up a few gold coins from the "coming of age" ceremony the day before and handed two of them to the owner with a smile.
Twenty minutes of carnage passed until both the growing teenage boy and young girl were stuffed with their own pork-like bellies. As they got up to ask for the local clothing store, they noticed two magicians, one with his legs destroyed and the other with a horrified look. Only this time, they didn't have their ski masks. A grin grew on Jason's mouth as he shouted.
"Heyyyy guys, how ya doing?"
"Ahhhhhhhh the devil," one screamed.
"Mercy! Mercy!" the other yelled.
Eve stuck out her tongue in a silly manner before hiding behind Jason's back. Though she no longer worried about her safety with Jason by her side, she had still been traumatized by the ruthless beating she received not long ago.
The meme worthy robbers stiffened with fright as Jason took a step closer.
As they saw the hate reader's grin grow before them, their faces paled, and their blood ran cold. Not wanting to risk his life a second time around, the injured magician immediately groveled on the floor, begging with his head plastered to the pavement. He was willing to do anything to ingratiate himself with the devil in front of him so long as he could redeem himself and live another day.
"M-Master or S-Sir, what can we do for you?" he shouted as he slammed the head of his friend down to the ground as well.
"Ow!" his friend screamed.
"Well…I'd like to kill you all, seeing that you have bullied my little sister here BUT I MIGHT reconsider it if you guys were to help me…"
"You see, Eve's clothes here got ruined by some VERY VERY EVIL and BAD men, and I was wondering who in this cruel world would be willing to buy her a few new clothes for her travels" Jason said pitifully with a few fake tears rolling down his eyes, impressing Eve once again with his acting.
"Of course, Master, we will get her the finest threads in the town," the injured magician said in a hurry. "Worry not, little girl, let's go shopping."
"Don't talk to me," she snorted as she followed her brother to the nearest shop.
"Certainly."
The injured magician and his friend followed closely behind the brother-sister duo with their wallets ready. "If only we knew that the weak girl was this devil's sister," they lamented. "Now, we'd be lucky just to get out of this alive."
However, in spite of his heavy-handed words, Jason had no plans to kill them. As a matter of fact, even if he wanted to, he couldn't. He had no physical prowess or magic power and didn't want to anger the goddess above further. Additionally, Jason felt good being called "Master" by two full-grown adults with supernatural powers, especially after spending 18 long years getting yelled at by his mom to clean the room and wash the dishes. Feeling that it might be funny to keep them around for longer, the hate reader named the wounded one "Servant 1" and the frightened one "Servant 2".
As they walked around the fanciest clothing stores, Jason had his two servants purchase anything that Eve fancied: a floral dress, a cute silk skirt made from Arachne's threads, an armor chestplate made of gold, etc. Though the two magicians cried internally as their wallets flattened, a stare from Jason was enough to shut the two up and remind them of their circumstances.
By the time the group of four finished shopping, the sun was no longer in sight, leaving a clear black sky and thousands of stars. Jason started to grow tired of "Master this" and "Master that" and allowed his servants to return home to their families. However, before he allowed them to leave, he required that they swear an oath to him, recalling the novel's unbreakable oath-based system, in which each party would stick their own fingers in their noses and say,
"By the wishes of the God of Contracts, please oversee the oath that we are about to make. We, the servants, swear to never harm Master Jason and his sister or we shall forever be reduced to ashes by your eternal flame."
In reality though, Jason died of laughter inside as he watched the two grown men stick their fingers in their noses, hearing only,
"BythewizhesofGOdofcOntrats…eternnnnulflame"
As the two servants left to return to their respective houses, Jason sighed and reflected on his peaceful yet productive day. Eve thanked her "older brother" once more before falling asleep, and Jason stored Eve's many shopping bags in the corner of their little alley. Though it wasn't much, the rubble-filled area was starting to feel a bit like home to the high-school graduate, and he was glad that he wasn't alone. Jason tucked Eve in with his jacket before staring at the beautiful stars above.
Yesterday, he had felt lost in a new world. He had wanted to return home, to a safer place where he wasn't so powerless, poor, and alone. He had missed his king-sized tempurpedic that sank when his body laid on it, his mom's home-made cooking, and his dad's silly jokes.
'Oh, how luxurious memory foam was,' he jokingly whimpered as he crawled toward his makeshift "bed" of rubble.
Today, however, Jason felt more at peace. The day he spent with a vampire and two servants oddly reminded him of his life back home, a simple life of eating, shopping, and enjoying the night sky. The black-haired teenager reminisced about his life back home, his anime-obsessed friends, and his favorite novels and soon felt a wave of drowsiness overtake him. With his adorable little sister's head resting on his shoulder, Jason fell asleep with a smile on his face.
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